Certain mechanisms, such as that known to those skilled in the art as a “minute repeater”, are generally actuated by a rotational movement of a component provided with a toothed sector that is caused to pivot directly by a circular sliding of a push-piece in the middle of the watch case.
One problem with this construction is that it can only be used on a round case because the path of the push-piece is necessarily circular, otherwise the connection with the component with the toothed sector cannot be direct.
One of the objects of the invention is to make it possible to actuate a mechanism of this kind by the translational movement of a push-piece along a curve close to a straight line rather than by a circular sliding action. The path of this translational movement has an infinite radius of curvature when applied to a rectangular case, but it may also have a radius of curvature of typically more than two times the width of the case, when applied to a so called tonneau case.